Archive for June, 2015

It’s been a very wet week for most of us here in Hampton Roads. In my backyard, nearly three inches of rain have fallen since last Sunday (June 21st). 1.50 inches fell Thursday night alone. We may pick up additional rainfall today and tonight as a low pressure system passes by to our north and west. First the warm front associated with the low will move through to be followed by the cold front later on tonight. The more widespread rainfall has passed by to our north and west. However, we are going to be in the warm sector of the storm system, which basically means that conditions may be right for thunderstorm development later on today. Some of those storms could reach severe levels so please monitor local media and the National Weather Service for updates. Current indications are that the chances of severe weather are higher to our north and west, where the best upper-level support will be. There’s an “Enhanced Risk” of severe weather out to our west according to the Storm Prediction Center. Once the cold front moves through later tonight, things should settle down. On Sunday, we should see improving conditions. Temperatures over the next few days should be rather seasonal for the most part or a little above seasonal levels early next week. The next chance of showers or storms appears to be on Wednesday or Thursday, but that could change… The tropical Atlantic is quiet for now… I wanted to comment on the Summer Solstice, which occurred last Sunday (June 21st). That marked the beginning of the astronomical summer season. The direct sun rays hitting Earth reached their northernmost point on that day. That point is the Tropic of Cancer. It was our longest day of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere. Although the days begin to grow shorter with each passing day, the difference in the length of daylight each day is very slight in the early part of the summer. Once we get into later July and August, the process begins to accelerate, and we will be losing an increasing amount of daylight each day. That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

We will have another hot and humid day on Saturday, but coastal areas should be a bit cooler as a wind off the water is expected to develop during the afternoon hours. Thunderstorms will also be possible later today and tonight as moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill move into the Northern Mid-Atlantic States Saturday evening. The deepest moisture and instability should stay to our north but there may be just enough moisture and added lift in the atmosphere to increase our chances of seeing a storm. It appears that not everyone will see rain, but those that do get the storms could see some heavy rain and possibly a strong or severe storm. The heat continues on Sunday with a very low chance of a shower/storm. Overall Father’s Day should be a nice day, albeit on the warm side. Early next week we will see the heat continue with just a slight chance of an isolated storm. By mid to late week, we should see an increase in the chances of storms and slightly cooler, more tolerable weather. At least that’s the way it looks right now…. Although Tropical Storm Bill moved over the areas of Texas that had the severe flooding back in May, it didn’t cause the devastating flooding that was feared since it was moving at a fairly good clip. Bill’s remnants did cause flooding issues for some areas in its path as rainfall rates were quite impressive… Speaking of rain, thunderstorms this past Tuesday brought my neighborhood a little over a half inch of rain… The tropical Atlantic is quiet for now. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

The summer-like weather pattern that we’ve been in of late will continue today (Saturday). Dew points in the low 70’s will make it feel very uncomfortable for most of us. High temperatures should peak out in the 90’s in most locations. With all the heat and humidity around, it doesn’t take much to trigger a shower or thunderstorm. Any boundary such as a sea breeze working its way inland, a disturbance in the upper-atmosphere, an old thunderstorm outflow boundary, etc. etc. can act as a trigger for convection to develop. However, meteorologists do not expect widespread coverage of storms today. A weakening back door cold front will be slowly dropping southward tonight and Sunday and this may enhance shower/thunderstorm development, but again, coverage should be limited. On Sunday, an onshore flow should bring temporary relief from the heat (albeit slight) to some of us. The heat and humidity will stick around through much of next week as the upper-level ridge builds back in and the wind direction becomes southerly or southwesterly. Thunderstorm chances should increase by mid/late-week as another frontal system approaches the region… The tropical Atlantic is quiet for now… So, stay hydrated and try to keep cool. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

I guess you have to be careful what you wish for. I was hoping that we got some much needed rain earlier in the week as my lawn was very dry and crunching when I walked on it. It hadn’t rained in my neighborhood since May 21st. On Tuesday, showers and storms developed rapidly as a cold front and a weather disturbance moved into the region. Well, some areas of SE VA and NE NC picked up several inches of rain that day, which caused flooding in some parts of the area, especially near the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. I picked up a little over 1.6 inches on Tuesday. Each day that followed, we had mostly cloudy skies, a northeasterly damp flow off the ocean, and a few periods of light/moderate rain and drizzle making for a very gloomy week. The system that brought all the wet weather is only slowly moving away this weekend. Also, another weak cool front is going to move through which will maintain our north to northeast winds as high pressure remains north of the region. There should be lots of clouds around today (Saturday), and there will be a chance of an isolated shower. Thunderstorms are also possible but forecasters don’t expected widespread thunderstorms to develop, especially here in Hampton Roads. Sunday looks much better and temperatures will remain on the cool side with the northeast wind. We should see a warming trend early next week resulting in a more summer-like weather pattern and as is usual during the summer here in Hampton Roads, a shower or thunderstorm cannot be ruled out… The tropical Atlantic remains quiet, but there is a category 3 hurricane in the Eastern Pacific. Hurricane Blanca is moving northwest and is expected to slowly weaken. Thanks for reading and have a great day!